Barry Cunlife - The Scythians

the way of death
The careful preparation of the body was a wise precaution given that the funeral
party had to be in close proximity to the corpse for the next forty days. Removing
the contents of the stomach and intestines was an obvious first step and the use of
strong-smelling herbs as a packing material helped to hide the smell of putrefaction.
It is not unlikely that the blood was drained at the same time and it may be that honey
or salt was used as a preservative. The coating of the body in wax was to prevent flies
from laying eggs in the skin, which would have hatched into maggots.
Further details of the process can be deduced from the well-preserved bodies excavated
at Pazyryk. There is no direct evidence to show that these bodies were carried
around the country in procession but that they were buried only at the beginning of
summer or in the autumn implies that some at least had been exposed, and possibly
displayed, for many months. This necessitated the careful preparation of the corpses.
In the case of the elite burials in kurgans 2 and 5 the brains had been removed as
well as the intestines. The skull of the male in kurgan 2 had been filled with horsehair,
pine needles, and larch cones. Muscle tissue had also been removed through
long slits and the bodies made up with packing materials. The breast and neck of the
female in kurgan 2 were filled with horsehair to preserve the body shape. In addition
to this, various smaller slits were made in the skin so that a preservative, perhaps salt,
could be introduced. In most cases the incisions were then sewn up with sinew or
horsehair. Traces of other preservatives have been found. The body of the woman
from kurgan 2 at Pazyryk had been doused with a preparation containing shellac and
beeswax, while her male companion had been treated with a mixture of oil and wax.
This rather extreme form of preparation would have been desirable if the bodies were
to be kept for many months before burial. The removal of muscles and brains, however,
raises the possibility that ritual cannibalism may have been practised (below,
pp. 308–9).
The preparation of bodies for exposure among the communities of the Altai was
not necessarily determined by a desire to parade them between the different tribes.
Indeed the remoteness and relative isolation of the region may have militated against
this. Some societies recorded in recent times consider that the proximity of the bodies
of important individuals enhanced the fertility of crops and animals. If such a
belief existed in the Altai then it would explain why it was that burial took place only
at prescribed times, at the beginning of summer or in the autumn—significant times
in the lifecycle of the flocks and herds. There may, however, have been a more practical
reason for delaying burial since in the winter and early spring the ground would
have been frozen and impossible to dig.
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